Bottle filling and capping machine.



E. EL wmgun. BOTILE'FILLING AND CAPPING MACHINE Patented Feb;13,1917.

l0 SHEETi-SHEET I APPLICATION FRED FEB. 15. I914.

Wlmessss 32 "376/1110:

E. 5.. WINKLEY.

BOTTLEHLUNG CAPPING MACH" E.

' Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

APPLICATION FILED 5.15, I914.-

10 MEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTCIR win 555 ES E. E. wmxuzv. BOTTLE FILLING AND'CAFPING MACHINE.

Patented Feb. 13, 1917 furucmon mco 8.16. 1914.

l0 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

| v I I r l p L 1 |l WITN E s '5 ES R men E- E. WINKLtY BOTTLE FILLING AND CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ms. 16. m4.

Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

m snaps-enact s.

IIIIIII IHIH I! II II I" II IN MI WITNESSES 1515 YINVENTQR E/E. WINKLEY. BOTTLE HLLING AND CAPPING MACHI IE.

APPLICATION mm rza. 16. um. Patent a 3 17 l0 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

I'll", "1',"

w fl m Q INvENTOR WITN E s s E 5 Wife/mar E, E. WKNKLEY.

Bums mum. mm cums n ACHINE.

arucanou man fill. 16. I In.

Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

I0 SHEETS-SHEET 1- WITNESSES wry/4W v E. E; WINKLEY. 1 some FILLING ANfi cums MACHNE.

'Arrucmou FlL ED FEE. 16. 1914 1 Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

10 SHEETS-SHEET 9.

"WITNESSES. I \NVE-NTOR Wfi/mm ,4

E. LWINKLEY. BOTTLE FILLING AND CAPPING MMHINE.

Armcmdu FILED 23,16. 19: l. I j

Patented Feb. 13, 1917 I 0 SHEETS-MEET I0.

a 2. a Q L {4% VW NESSES INvENTDR Walk/Meir ERASTUS E. WIN'KLEY, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOTTLE FILLING AND carrnrs MA CHINE.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented. Feb. 13, 1.917.

Appllcationfiled February 16, 1914. Serial N a. 818,970.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERASTUS E. WINKLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle Filling and Capping Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

" exact description of the invention, such as will enable others Skilled in the art to which it appertains' to make and use the same.

5-, -The present invention relates to machines ffor filling and-capping bottles which are ,used in various industries to packa e bever- 15.agcs,such, for instance, as beer, mi k, water and tonic. p v f Heretofere it has been customary to lo- 'cate a filling machine beside a capping machine and to operate these machines entirely 'independently' ofone another. It often hap- --p ens in operatin these machines that one or both ofithem. ecome jammed orclogged withwork or fails to operate in a proper.

'manneral .Whenthi's occurs, unless there is an operator or attendant for both machines,

and steps can be taken immediately to remedy the diiiiculty, one or both of the machines'is liable to be injured or develop destroy the conditions which are likely to bottles and wastetheir contents.

One of the objectsof the present invention is to produce a novel machine for filli and capping rbottles which will automaticallystop operating' in case the machine or mechanism becomes clogged or jammed,- or for any other reason unusual resistance is offcred .to the movement of the driven parts, or conditions are developed dangerous to the battles. J

To the accomplishment of this object a feature of the invention contemplates the provision, in a filling and capping machine provided with mechanism for filling bottles, and mechanism for capping the filled bottles, of means for stop )ing the machine when 'an overload or unsa e cc'mditions occur during its operation.

Broadly considered the-machine. may be stopped when an overload or unsafe conditions occur during the operation of either the filling or capping mechanisms, or both. As an overload usually occurs only in the filling mechanism, and as unsafe conditions are ordinarily .d'evc ped in the capping mechanism, I prefer to etc the machine when an overload occurs in the filling mechanism and W1 en unsafe conditions occur in the capping )lECllilIllSl'lL.

The manner of stopping the machine under an overload in the filling mechanism .may takean) form found (hsiraliie or expedient. It is preferred, however, to stop the filling mechanism upon the development of the overload and permit the capping mechanism tr. continue to operate for an interval arts] the stopping of the filling mechanism. This manner of stopping the machine forms an important feature of the invention as it permits the filling mechanism to be st )pped immediately, while the capping meclt anism may overrun until the inertia of its comparatively heavy and rapidly-movii g parts is exhausted.

Other features of the present invention consist in a ti ming shaft for connecting the filling and capping mechanisms and control ling their tim of operation, in a novel con- -'struction for varying the speed oi: the timmechanisms, in improved devices for restou ing the timed operating relation of the filling and capping mechanisms after the filling mechanism his stopped under an overload, in a novel st )p mechanism, and in certain devices, combinations and arrangements of parts tending to improve and simplify the operations of filling and capping machines and to enable them to operate with certainty at a high'rate of speed and without liability of breakageof. parts. The advantages of these devices combinations and arrangements of pa .ts will be obvious to those skilled .in the art from the following de scription.

The various features of the present invention will l e best understood from an inspection of. the accompanying drawings illustrating H e preferred embodiment of the -l is a detail side elevation of the dethe housing;

Fig. 6 is a plan, partly in section, of the driving mechanism within thehousing;

Fig. 7 is a development of part of the filling; mechanism Fig. is a "plan, partly in section, of the filling mechanism;

Fig. '9 is a detail elevation, partly in section, of the devices for locking the bottle support in its elevated position;

Fig. 10 is. a detail plan, partly in section, of the locking devices for the bottle support;

Fig. 11' is a detail front elevation of the devices for detecting the presence of an 0bstruction upon the bottle supports of the capping mechanism;

12 is a detail plan of the detecting devices;

Fig-13 is a detail side elevation of the detecting devices on the. line 1313, Fig. 12;

Fig; 14 isa'n enlarged detail. plan of the detecting devices;

' Fig. 15 is a sectional elevation on the-line 15-15, Fig. 14;.

Fig. 16 is a sectional elevation on the line 1616, Fig. 14;

Fig. 17 is a detail 'front elevation of the devices for stopping the machine when an obstruction. is found upon one of the bottle supports of the capping mechanism; and

Fig. 18 is a detail side elevation of th devices shown in Fig. 17.

The main features of the preferred form of the invention may be briefly described as follows:

The machine is provided with mechanism for filling bottles and with mechanism For capping the filled bottles. The bottles are fed into .the filling mechanism'where they are filled with ]i( uid and then discharged into a runway lea ing to the capping mechanism which automatically takes the filled bottles, one "at. a time, from the runway, places the caps thereon, and automatically discharges the capped bottles from the machine. Whenever the. filling mechanism is jauuned, or fails to operate 'nropcrly, or is otherwise overloaded, or unsafe operating conditions occur during the operation of the capping mecl'rauism."the machine is automatica1lystopped to wevent breakage- 'to the hottles or. to the machine. j 'lfhc xlei. vices for stopping the machine under an overload outhe filling mechanism are con slzru-cted {o perm-it the cappingmechanism to continueto operate, it necessary, a short ti me after the filling mechanism has stopped so that tlic'working parts of the capping medmnism may be brought into a predetermined position.

heer flows down the tube 15 The beer continues to flow'until the bottle In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings the bottles to be filled sleeve 4 secured to a plunger 5, (Fig. 1).

The plunger 5 is mounted to slide vertically' in lugs 6 and 7 formed upon spiders 8 and 9 carried by the carrier',2,' (Fig. 1).

Associated with each bottle support is a-filling head 10 (Figs. 1 and 7), projectengaging arms 3 project laterally from aing from the bottom of a drum 11-, which is'supported by the-carrier 2. 'The drum 11 is provided with a track 12 engaged by rolls 13 carried by vertical rods 14 on the machine frame. The beer for the bottles flows to the drum 11 through a, pipe 14, (Fig. 1). From the drum 11 the beer flows through the thirty-two heads 10 and then through tubes 15 arranged to enter the bottles through their-mouths. The flow of beer from each head into its associated tube,

15 is controlled by a valve mechanism 16, (Figs. 1 and 7), pivotallvmounted on the the trip and having one endsecured to the valve mechanism 16 audits other end en-' ,gagedwith a pin 20 on the 'upper arm of the trip. The dog 17 is slidably mounted on the tube 15 and is normallyheld' in position'to engage the trip 18 by a spring 21 'coiled around the tube 15 and interposed between 'the filling head and a shoulder 22' on the dog.

During the rotation of the carrier 2 each bottle is first elevated to position its associated tube '15. within the bottle. This movement of the bottle also lifts the dog 17 out of engagement with the trip 18. 'lfli'e trip 18 is then swiing about-its pivot ihyv the spring 19 winch positions the upper end" 23 of the trip for-engagement with a block 24. (Figs. 1, 2. 7 and 8), (ma r1ng25 car ried hy the rods 14, which strikes the upper end of the trip and swings the trip and the valve mechanism 16- into osition LA (Fig. n.

The valve is now open aud-thc into the bottle.

is filled at which time the lower end of the 3Q 'fronra, b1ock.32 loosely surrounding a rec-' tangular portion of the plunger With i this construction the plunger 5 slides freely before an empty bottle is loaded on the support now empty, .a third block 27 on the "the tension of its spr1ng19 so that the dog 17 may again engage and lock the trip-in its ori inal position. This completes the cycleo :operation of'the actual filling mech- 5 anism.

*by a coiled spring 28, (Fig. 1'); one end of which is'connectedto'the lower end of theplunger 5 and the other end of which is connected to the spider ,8. In order to lock the bottle from lowering under the weight or pressure of the flowing beer and to press the mouth of the bottle against the packing (which is of usual form in machines of this class) in the filling.;-;head,'the rods 14 carry a circular track 29, (Figs. l'a'nc'f 7 which support a series of rolls 30, (Figs. 7 9 and 10), which travel over the track during the rotation of the bottle-supports. Each roll 30. is journaled upon a pin 31 projecting through the block 32 as the bottle support is raised under the influence of the spring 28.. After the bottle mouth has disengaged the dog'17 fromthe tri 18 the block 32 and plunger 5 are clutc ed together in order that the bottle may be locked in-its elevated position.- To clutch: the plunger 5 to the block 32 the block isprovided'with afrusto conicalopening 33 w 'ch contains four rolls 341 The --rolls 34 are ormajlly held. out of gripping position by aspring 35, coiled around the plunger 5 and interposed b'e- V tween thelug 7 and the taper the block 32, which depresses the'bloc' "'32 "so that bars 36 carried by acollar 3 n-the plunger 5 position of clearance after the bottle there on. has been: filled, the 'lower end of the plunger 5 is providedwith a roll .40, (Fig.

6 5 7 which is engaged by an. up n the ring tips the trip backwardly against The bottle is elevhted against the dog 17" tles unti. they are taken, one by one, from the runv ay by the feeding means embodied frame.

lift the rolls out of grippih g'pos'itwn, (Fig- 9). As soon, however, as the'roll reaches bottomc f the track 29. After the bottle support has been returned'to its position of clear ance the filled bottle is discharged from the support tlld an empty bottle loaded thereon while th a su port is in the position C, (Fig; 7). All er e empty'bottle is loaded on the support an incline 42 on the track 29 Jermits the spring 28 to again elevate the ottle monti against the dog 17. As shown in Fig. 7, sufiicient clearance is left between the roll and the bottom ofthe'track 29 to permit tie springs to elevate the bottle supports through variable distancesiklepending loadedon the runway in a single fil with each boti lefin contact withthe'adj acent botin the ca pping mechanism which is substantially sir iilar to the capping mechanism .de .scribed ii an application for Letters Patent of the-limited States filed by me February 24, 1913 .Serial NQ.,750,28,9-, and so this mechaniim, need not.be described in detail herein. a i

- The crrrier 2 for. the bottle supports and filling heads is-providediwith a bevel gear 4,4, (Fig sfl'and 2), which-is driven by a bevel gear '45,. secured} to one end' of ahorizc ntal shaft 46, journ'aled at oneend in a bearing'carried by the pedestal for the card 5r 2 and at its other end in bearings carried )y a housing 47 on the machine As shown in Fig.2, the filling and capping mechanisms are. provided with thirty-tn o and 'four/ supports, respectively.

support :arr'ier .0 the capping mechanism. 115.. By opera ting the filling. and capping mechanisms in the manner described, the capping mechanism removes a filled bottle from the runway &3 simultaneously with the deposit of a filled bottle upon the runway by the '120 filling In :chanism. As the bottles are fpositively controlled from' the time 'theyenter the filling mechanism untiLthey leave the. 'cappin .:nechanism'al1 dan r of the bottles 'a'ccumusting at either on of the runwayt12'5 or any ther place in the machine is obviated; Q J I Secured near the end of the shaft 46, 2

within tl e housing-'47, is a disk 48,, (Figs.

at and 5), which 1s driventhrou'gh a con-7 on t e shaft 46. This coupling comprises eleven 50 pivoted on the face of the bevel.

gear next to the disk 48. One end of the lever 50 carries a roll 51, which is normally held against a shoulder 52, formed in the periphery of the disk 48, by a spring 53,

coiled around a rd 54 one end of Which'is pivoted to the gear 49 and the other end of which loosely I passes through a hole formed in the 'free'end of the lever 50. The bevel ear 49 is' driven by a bevel gear 55 which is fixedly mounted on a clutchmember 70, the clutch member being mounted on, and fixed to, a shaft 57 which drives the capping mechanism, (Fig. 2), A sleeve 56, which is loosely mounted on the shaft 57,

carries two gears 58 and 59, the gear '58 being larger than the gear 59. When'the gear 58 is engaged by a pinion 60 carried by a changegear shaft 61, which is driven from a motor-pinion 62 through a gear 63 on the shaft 61, the carrier 2 is driven so that a quart bottle can be filled during one of its revolutions. .When the sleeve is driven by a gear- 64 on the shaft 61 through the' small gear 59 the carrier 2 is driven at a higher speed so that a pint bottle may be filled during a single rotation of the carrier.

Y which theother member (not shown) isformed integral with, or attached to,-;.tlre sleeve 56, so that by .the operation 'of'the To shift'the gears, and 64 theshaft 61 is provided wit1 a sleeve 65 which is splined to the shaft and fixed to the gears 60 and 64.. Bysliding the sleeve on the shaft'these gears'may be engaged with the gears 58 and 35 59, respectively. Before shifting the sleeve 65, however,'it is-necessary to elevate a yoke 66 which loosely'embraces the gears 61 and holds the shaftfrom sliding longitudinally when they are in mesh, (Figs. 1 and 5). .The yoke 66 is formed on a rod 67, loosely mounted in the housing 47, which is provided with a knurled thumb nut 68 to facilitat'ethe elevation of the yoke by the oper ative.

The clutchmember 70. constitutes one member of aclutch of well known form, of

clutch the sleeve may be coupled both to the 1 gear semi to the shaft 57, to cause the the usual sleeve 71, which slides upon the 'fillingqncchanisln and the capping-mechani'si' n to be driven simultaneously. [Phe clutch is operated in the usual nu nnerby a dog 69, which s 1vo'tally mounted on the clutch-member70. .The dog is actuated by shaft 57. -This sleeve-'has'a frusto-conical end, sovthat 'when the sleeve is moved, from left to r1ght, as shown in Flgs. 4 and 5, the

end of thedog is forced, outwardly, thus throwing the clutch into operation, and so long asthe dogremains'in en agement with thef-cylindrical'body' of the seeve the driv-v ..in'g-'eonnection isg maintained. In order to pling1 with a bevel. gear 49 loosely mounted properly,

reason. causes an overload upon the driving connections sufficient to overcome the tension of the-spring 53,the rotation of the disk 48 will cease and as the bevel gear 49 continues to rotate, the roll 51 will be disconnected or escape from the shoulder 52 of the disk 48 and travel around the periphery of the disk until it strikes against the upper end of an arm 77 'Which is connected by an arm 78 to' the rock shaft 76. When the roll 51 engages thearm 77 the sleeve 71 is actuated in a direction to release the gear 55 from the shaft .57 and sleeve 56. \Viththis'construction the capping mccl1anism is stopped after the filling mechanism has stopped.

5 projecting When the overload in the filling n1echa nism is removedby the proper attention to the mechanism the jamming or improper operation of which caused the throwing out of the driving mechanism the coupling between the disk 48 and the gear 49 may be;

reset-and the initial timed operating relation of the filling and capping mechanism restored by slowly rotating the shaft 46v backwardby means of a hand'wheel '99 on the shaft until the roll 51 again snaps in place behind the shoulder 52.

While the mechanism for capping the bottles is constructed to perform the eappingoperation without. liability of breaking the bottles it sometimes happens-that 'a bottlewhich contains a hidden crack is pa ssed into the machine and is broken during the capw ping operation. When this happens, sometimes a piece of the. broken bottle'r emains upon the support-at the time'when the sup-- port is ready to receive one of the filled bottles from the transferring devices embodied in the capping mechanism. When the-filledbottle is loaded on the support'under such conditions its bottom rests upon the piece'of 1 glass which. causesthe bottle to ti at such;

an angle as to bring it outside oft e range of' the capping. instrumentalities'. the bottleis knocked oil the support and Usually.

broken. The same trouble may-be caused" through the collection upon the bottle sup ports of the cork'disks which sometimes drop out ofth'e caps,

m'derhito llm helcontinued loss A fbottles and their-"contents caused by the piling-up of broken glass'or cork upon the,

bottle supports the machine of the drawings is provided with mechanism for detecting the presence of the broken glass or cork upon the bottle supports and for stopping the machine in time to prevent further loss. To this end the capping mechanism frame supports a centrally pivoted arm 79, (Figs. 12 and 14), one end of which is normally held in the path of movement of the empty bottle support 81 of the capping mechanism as it passes from, the station where the capped bottles are discharged from the ma chine to the station where the filled bottles are received from the filling mechanism. 'llheend S0 of the arm 79 is held normally forward, until a stop 82 on its other end en gages a rotary disk 83, by a leaf spring 84 carried by the capping mechanism frame. The disk is rotatably mounted upon a flat. plate 84;, (Figs. 14, 15 and 16), which is cut away at 85 to permit the rear end of the arm 79 to operate between the disk 83 and the top of the capping mechanism frame. The plate 84. is also cut awayat 86 to expose a curved slot 87, (Figs. 12, 13, 14: and 16), formed in the top of the capping mechanism frame. The slot 87 gradually decreases in depth -from the point 88, (Fig. 14), where it is deepest, to the 'point 89 where it merges with the top of the capping mechanism frame, (Fig. 13). The disk 83 is provided with four hollow posts 90 each of which contains a cylindrical rod 91. The disk 83 is continuously rotated during the operation of the capping mechanism at such a speed as to insure the radial registration of an empty bottle support 80 with one of the posts 90, (Figs. 12 and 14).

As long as neither glass nor cork is deposited upon a bottle support the arm 7 9 will always be positioned at the time of the radial registration of the bottle support- '80 and post 90 in. the manner illustrated in Figs. 12 and 14. In this position a hooked end 92 on the arm 79 will prevent the rod 91 in the post 90 from dropping into the slot 87, (Figs. 14 and 16). If, however,

glass or cork is deposited upon the bottle support 80, the arm 79 will-be moved into.

a position like that shown in the dotted lines of Fig. 14 thus permitting the rod 91 to drop into the slot 87. When this happens, the rod 91 rides along the, slot 87 and strikes the end of. a slide 93, (Figs. 17 and 18), mounted to'slide in ways formed in the top of the capping mechanism frame. The slide 93 is provided with a cam 94: which engages a bl 0ck 95 formed on alink 90 pivoted to a second link 97, (Fig. 11), which is connected with an arm 98 projecting from the rock draft 76, (Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5). As shown. in Fig. 18, a; spring 105, attached to the left-hand end of the link: 90, tends to draw it toward the left, but

this movement is normally prevented by ongagement of tie link with a stationary flange 1.06. When, however, the slide 93 is moved to the right, in the manner above described, the cum 94 acts to depress the link 96, by engtgement with the block 95, thus swinging the link downwardly out of engagement with the flange 106; whereupon, the spring 105 pulls the link to the left. This movement, ;hrough the connections described, causes the rock-shaft 7 6 to be turned in such a direct-ion that the drive-clutch is thrown out of operation. To reset the slide 93 in. operrtive position the slide car- .ries a knob 100 (Figs. 7 and 18), which may be grasped by the operative to facilitate the position 11 of the slide.

Sometimes it i; lesirable to cap filled bot tles which for some, reason passed through the capping mechanism without being capped. In order to permit the placement of these filled b ttles upon the runway 43 the shaft 46 is constructed in two parts, (Fig. 1), which are connected by a clutch 101 operated t1". rough a hand, lever 102. When it is (185111 d to lace the filled bottles of the class heroinbc ore referred to upon the runway the clutch 101 is thrown out thus permitting the capping mechanlsm to run and the filling mechanism to stop. When sufiicient r Jom for the filled bottles is prepared for them on the runway the bottles are placed therec n and the clutch thrown into again operate the filling and capping mechanisms. T: to clutch is of the well known one pin 1ype the one pin of which is arranged to er gage its cooperating memher only when thi fillin and cap ing mechanisms arerestor ad to t eir timed operating relation;

While the invention has been illustrated and described in connection with a. machine for filling and ca pping bottles it will be apia-rent to those 2. tilled in the art that many features of the invention are applicable to the othermachines in the system of auto matic machines devised by me for packaging liquids n will be C18: .1- to those skilled in this class of machinei and with the general ob* jects of the present invention in view, that features whereoi are definitely stated in their true scope .n the claims herewith.

What is claim ed as new, is:- 1. A filling an .d capping machine.- having, in combinaton, mechanism for fillin bottles, mechanism for capping the fil-le bottles, and means for stopping the filling and capping muzhanisms under an overload, said means permitting the capping mechanism to continue to operate for an interval after the stopping of the filling mechanism, substantially as described. v

2. A filling and cappingmachine, having, in combination, mechanism for filling bottles, mechanism 'for capping the filled bottles, a. two part shaft having one part connected to the filling mechanism and .the other part connected to the capping mechanism, and a clutch for connecting the parts of the shaft constructed and arranged to connect the parts of, the shaft only in a predeteri'nined position in which the shaft will operate the filling and capping mechanisms intimed relation, substantially as described.

3. A filling'and capping machine, hav-,

ing,- in combination, mechanism for filling bottles, mechanism for capping the filled bottles, a driving member therefor, a connection between the member and the filling mechanism comprising a coupling the parts of whiclrare constructed to be disconnected under an overload, and'means for throwing out the capping mechanism by the movement of one of the parts of the coupling after it is disconnected from the other part,

substantially as described.

4. A filling and capping machine having,

- in combination, fillingfmeans'; cappingmeans; and driving-mechanism normal connecting and actuating both said means in timed relation, -the driving-mechanism being' constructed and arranged to yield,

upon the occurrence of an overload in the filling-means, and thereupon auton'iatically to discontinue driving both of said means, and also to disconnect them from each other so that they may come indcpendcntly to rest.

5. A. filling and capping machine having, in combination, filling-means; cappingmeans; driving rnechanism connected with the capping-means for actuating the latter; and yielding connections, between the drivingqnechanism and the fillinganeans, for actuating the latter, said connections being constructed and arranged to yield, upon the occurrence o'l. air-overload in the filling-nieans, during the continued actuation of the cappil'ig-means.

G. A filling and capping machine having, in combination, fillingme'ans; cappingmeans; driving-mechanisn1 normally connected with the capping-meansfor actuating the latter; yielding connections, behveen the driving mechanism and the filling-means, for actuating the latter, said connections being constructed and arranged to yield, upon the occurrence of an-overload in the filling-means; and means for thereafter antomatically disconnecting the driving-mechanism from the capping-means. v

EBASTUS E. W'INKLEY.

Witnesses:

WAnnnN G. OGDEN, Geo. E. Srnnmns. 

